While helping a “real world” business develop an online presence, I have always started with the concept of who is your

ideal customer?

To do this I start by identifying which, if any of your existing clients fit the bill. 

Most organisations will have clients that range from the great to the down right nasty.  (Time to fire those ones!)  So if you are going to develop the business online it is important to establish who you want to be doing business with.

This is not always that easy,  as the mental picture of the ideal customer that initially arises may actually be a little fanciful.  But this is a good exercise to go through as it takes some of the pain out of the process of building the business online. 

So where do you start?

Is everyone in the world a potential customer?  Not really.   After all, no product or service is right for everyone.

How do you know what kinds leads you should be going after? You need to ask yourself some smart questions, like:

• Who are my ideal prospects?
• What economic bracket do they usually fall into?
• What kinds of organizations do they belong to?
• What do most of my existing customers have in common?
• Are they married, single, divorced, widowed?
• Do they have children?
• Do they have particular political leanings?
• Do they have similar occupations, education, hobbies, illnesses, transportation needs, family concerns?

The more you know about your customers, the easier it will be to go after your ideal prospects, or suspects that are likely to put you in touch with others.